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7 1968

FINANCE (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT, 1968

PART IV

Profits or Gains from Dealing in or Developing Land: Income Tax and Sur-Tax

Interpretation.

16. —(1) In this Part, except where the context otherwise requires—

company” includes any body corporate;

control”, in relation to a company, means—

(a) the power of a person to secure, by means of the holding of shares or the possession of voting power in or in relation to that or any other company, or by virtue of any powers conferred by the articles of association or other document regulating that or any other company, that the affairs of the first-mentioned company are conducted in accordance with the wishes of that person, or

(b) the right of a person to more than one-half of any profits of the company distributed by way of dividend or, if the company were wound up, to more than one-half of its net assets;

development” means, in relation to any land,—

(a) the construction, demolition, extension, alteration or reconstruction of any building on the land, or

(b) the carrying out of any engineering or other operation in, on, over or under the land to adapt it for materially altered use,

and “developing” and “developed” shall be construed correspondingly;

market value” means, in relation to any property, the price which that property might reasonably be expected to fetch if sold in the open market;

trading stock” has the same meaning as in section 62 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 ;

any reference to the disposal of an interest in land includes a reference to the creation of an interest and any reference to the acquisition of an interest in land includes a reference to the acquisition of an interest which ceases on the acquisition.

(2) For the purposes of this Part—

(a) a person shall not be regarded as disposing of an interest in land by reason of his conveying or transferring the interest by way of security or of his granting a lease of the land on terms which do not require the payment of any fine, premium or like sum, and

(b) an option or other right to acquire or dispose of any interest in any land shall be deemed to be an interest in the land.

(3) (a) Any question whether a person is connected with another shall for the purpose of this Part be determined in accordance with the following paragraphs of this subsection, any provision that one person is connected with another being taken as including provision that the other person is connected with the first-mentioned person.

(b) A person is connected with an individual if that person is the individual's husband or wife, or is a relative, or the husband or wife of a relative, of the individual or of the individual's husband or wife.

(c) A person in his capacity as trustee of a settlement, is connected with any individual who in relation to the settlement is a settlor, and with any person who is connected with such an individual.

(d) A person is connected with any person with whom he is in partnership, and with the husband or wife or a relative of any individual with whom he is in partnership.

(e) A company is connected with another company—

(i) if the same person has control of both, or a person has control of one and persons connected with him, or he and persons connected with him have control of the other; or

(ii) if a group of two or more persons has control of each company, and the groups either consist of the same persons or could be regarded as consisting of the same persons by treating (in one or more cases) a member of either group as replaced by a person with whom he is connected.

(f) A company is connected with another person, if that person has control of it or if that person and persons connected with him together have control of it.

(g) Any two or more persons acting together to secure or exercise control of a company shall be treated in relation to that company as connected with one another and with any person acting on the directions of any of them to secure or exercise control of the company.

(h) In this subsection—

relative” means brother, sister, ancestor or lineal descendant;

settlement” includes any disposition, trust, covenant, agreement, or arrangement, and any transfer of money or other property or of any right to money or other property;

settlor”, in relation to a settlement, includes any person by whom the settlement was made or entered into directly or indirectly, and in particular (but without prejudice to the generality of the preceding words of this definition) includes any person who has provided or undertaken to provide funds directly or indirectly for the purpose of the settlement, or has made with any other person a reciprocal arrangement for that other person to make or enter into the settlement.

(4) The provisions of this Part shall have effect notwithstanding anything in Schedule A or the provisions applicable to that Schedule or in Chapter VI of Part IV of the Income Tax Act, 1967 .

Extension of charge under Case I of Schedule D to certain profits from dealing in or developing land.

17. —(1) Where, apart from this section, all or some of the activities of a business of dealing in or developing land would not be regarded as activities carried on in the course of a trade within Schedule D but would be so regarded if every disposal of an interest in land included among those activities was a disposal of the full interest therein which the person carrying on the business had acquired and that interest had been acquired by him in the course of the business, the business shall be deemed to be wholly a trade within Schedule D or, as the case may be, part of such a trade and the profits or gains thereof shall be charged to tax under Case I of Schedule D accordingly.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)—

(a) a dealing in land shall be regarded as taking place where a person having an interest in any land disposes, as regards the whole or any part of the land, of that interest or of an interest which derives therefrom, and

(b) a person who secures the development of any land shall be regarded as developing that land.

(3) Where an interest in land is disposed of in the course of the winding up of a company, the company shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed not to have ceased to carry on the trade or business which it carried on before the commencement of the winding up until the completion of the disposal, or of the last such disposal where there is more than one, and the question whether any such disposal was made in the course of a business of dealing in or developing land which is, or is to be deemed to be, a trade or part of a trade shall accordingly be determined without regard to the circumstance that the company is being wound up.

Computation under Case I of Schedule D of profits or gains from dealing in or developing land.

18. —(1) Where a business of dealing in or developing land is, or is to be regarded as, a trade within Schedule D or a part of such a trade, the provisions applicable to Case I of that Schedule shall, as respects the computation of the profits or gains of the business, have effect subject to the provisions of subsection (2).

(2) (a) Any consideration, other than rent or an amount treated as rent under section 83 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , for the disposal of an interest in any land, or in a part of any land, shall be treated as a consideration for the disposal of trading stock and shall accordingly be taken into account as a trading receipt.

(b) Any interest (hereafter in this subsection referred to as the superior interest) in any land held by the trader which has become trading stock of the trade shall thereafter, until the discontinuance of the trade, continue to be such trading stock and the value thereof at any time prior to the discontinuance shall be taken to be an amount equal to the cost to the trader of its acquisition diminished by an amount equal to the cost to the trader of creating any interest (hereafter in this subsection referred to as an inferior interest) to which the superior interest has become subject.

(c) For the purposes of paragraph (b) the cost of the acquisition of the superior interest shall, subject to paragraphs (e) and (f), be taken to be the aggregate of the following amounts, that is to say:

(i) where the interest is a leasehold interest, the amount of any fine, premium or other like sum paid by the trader in consideration for the grant of the lease, or, if he has obtained the lease by assignment, the amount paid by him in consideration of the assignment;

(ii) where the interest is a leasehold interest, an amount equal to the market value at the time of the acquisition of any rent reserved under the lease;

(iii) where the interest is not a leasehold interest, the amount paid by the trader for the acquisition of the interest together with an amount equal to the market value at the time of the acquisition of any fee farm rent, rentcharge, annuity or other annual payment reserved or charged upon the land;

(iv) the amount paid by the trader by way of legal and other expenses incidental to the acquisition of the interest;

(v) where the trader has developed the land, the amount of the expenditure incurred by him on the development;

but where the trader has more than one interest in the land, no amount shall be taken into account under subparagraph (v) except in relation to that interest to which the other or all the others are subject.

(d) For the purposes of paragraph (b) the cost to the trader of creating an inferior interest shall be taken to be—

(i) where the inferior interest is an interest in the whole of the land to which the superior interest extends, the amount by which the cost to the trader, computed in accordance with paragraph (c), of the acquisition of the superior interest exceeds the market value of any interest retained by him, or

(ii) where the inferior interest is an interest in a part of the land to which the superior interest extends, the amount by which the portion of the cost of acquisition of the superior interest which is attributable to that part exceeds the market value of any interest in that part retained by him.

For the purposes of subparagraph (ii) the portion of the cost of acquisition of the superior interest which is attributable to a part of the land to which that interest extends shall be arrived at by apportioning in such manner as is just each of the several amounts which, under paragraph (c), are taken as making up the said cost of acquisition.

(e) Where the trader has acquired the superior interest in any land otherwise than for consideration in money or money's worth, he shall, subject to paragraph (f), be deemed, for the purposes of paragraph (c), to have acquired the interest for a consideration equal to its market value at the time of acquisition.

(f) Where at the time of acquisition of the superior interest the trade had not been commenced or the interest was not then appropriated as trading stock, the trader shall be deemed for the purposes of paragraph (c) to have purchased the interest for a consideration equal to its market value at the time of its appropriation as trading stock.

(g) Any consideration (other than a payment to which section 87 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , applies) for the granting by the trader of any right in relation to the development of any land shall be taken into account as a trading receipt.

(h) As respects any land an interest in which falls to be treated as trading stock—

(i) rent payable or receivable shall, save to the extent provided by the foregoing provisions of this subsection, be disregarded, and

(ii) other receipts and outgoings arising from, or attributable to, the occupation or use of the land by the trader (other than use for the purposes of the trade) or by any other person shall likewise be disregarded.

Transfers of interests in land between certain associated persons.

19. —(1) Where an interest in land is disposed of by any person to a person connected with him (hereafter referred to as the transferee) and—

(a) the interest is disposed of at a price greater than its market value, and

(b) the price—

(i) does not fall to be taken into account, in relation to the disponor, in computing for tax purposes the profits or gains of a trade which is, or includes, a business of dealing in or developing land, but

(ii) does fall to be so taken into account in relation to the transferee,

the transferee shall for tax purposes be deemed to have acquired the interest at a price equal to the market value thereof at the time of its acquisition by him.

(2) Where an interest in land is disposed of by any person to a person connected with him (hereafter referred to as the transferee) and—

(a) the interest is disposed of at a price less than its market value, and

(b) the price—

(i) does not fall to be taken into account, in relation to the transferee, in computing for tax purposes the profits or gains of a trade which is, or includes, a business of dealing in or developing land, but

(ii) does fall to be so taken into account in relation to the disponor,

the disponor shall for tax purposes be deemed to have disposed of the interest at a price equal to the market value thereof at the time of the disposal by him.

A disposal by way of gift shall be regarded for the purposes of this subsection as being a disposal at a nominal price.

(3) In the application of this section to a case in which a lease is granted, any reference to price shall be construed as a reference to the fine, premium or like sum payable for the grant of the lease.

Tax to be charged under Case IV of Schedule D in relation to the sale of certain shares.

20. —(1) Where the activities of a company consist of or include the construction or the securing of the construction of a building and after the construction has begun and not later than six years after its completion shares in the company are sold to a person who has, or in consequence of the sale will have, control of the company, and apart from this section the consideration for the sale would not be a receipt of an income nature in the hands of the seller, the consideration shall, if the conditions specified in subsection (2) are satisfied, be deemed to be income of the seller up to the amount specified in subsection (5), and shall be chargeable under Case IV of Schedule D accordingly.

(2) The conditions referred to in subsection (1) are that—

(a) the shares are sold on or after the 11th day of May, 1965;

(b) at the time of the sale the company has (directly or indirectly) an interest in the building and the value of that interest and any interest which the company so has at that time in any other building (not being a building completed more than six years before that time nor one in relation to which the condition specified in paragraph (c) is not satisfied) the erection of which was carried out or secured by the company, amounts to one-fifth or more of the net assets of the company;

(c) on a notice for the purpose having been served on it by the inspector, the company has not shown, within twenty-one days after the date of the notice or within such further time as the Revenue Commissioners may have allowed, that the said interest is trading stock of a trade carried on by it and has been or will be disposed of by it in the normal course of that trade.

(3) Subsection (1) shall not apply if—

(a) the shares in the company are sold by a person or persons to another company and the shares in each company are held (directly or indirectly) by the same person or by the same persons in the same proportion, or

(b) the shares are sold by one company to another company and the shares in each company are held (directly or indirectly) by the same person or by the same persons in the same proportion,

regard being had in each case to any differences in the nature of the shares or the rights attaching thereto.

(4) Where before the sale of shares mentioned in subsection (1) the company—

(a) has disposed of its interest in the building, or of an interest which derives therefrom, to the person who is the purchaser of the shares, or to a company connected with the purchaser, or

(b) has disposed of any interest in the building to or in favour of any person, and the purchaser of the shares, or a company connected with the purchaser, acquires the interest, either before the sale or after the sale in pursuance of arrangements made not later than the sale,

subsection (1) shall apply as if the interest disposed of were still vested in the first-mentioned company at the time of the sale of the shares, and as if any assets of the company representing the consideration for the disposal of the interest were not assets of the company.

(5) The amount which under subsection (1) is to be deemed to be income of the seller is the appropriate proportion of the amount (if any) of the profits or gains of the company chargeable to tax which would have arisen if the interest referred to in paragraphs (b) and (c) of subsection (2) (or all such interests where there are more than one) had been sold at that time for a consideration equal to the following amount, that is to say, the amount of the proper consideration for all the issued shares in the company—

(a) reduced by any excess of the market value of the assets of the company other than the said interest or interests over the aggregate liabilities of the company at the time of the sale, or

(b) increased by any excess of the said aggregate liabilities over the said market value.

(6) For the purposes of this section the proper consideration for all the issued shares in a company shall be the actual consideration for the sale of shares mentioned in subsection (1) increased (unless that sale was of all the issued shares) in the proportion which the total number of issued shares bears to the number of shares sold:

Provided that where the issued shares of the company are not all of the same nature or do not all have the same rights attaching thereto and the said sale was not of all the issued shares, the proper consideration for all the issued shares in the company shall, for the purposes of this section, be taken to be the market value at the time of the sale of the shares of the interest or all the interests mentioned in subsection (5) reduced or, as the case may require, increased by the excess mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (5).

(7) For the purposes of subsection (5) the appropriate proportion, in relation to any sale of shares, is the proportion which the actual consideration for that sale bears to the proper consideration for all issued shares in the company, so however that where the proviso to the foregoing subsection has effect the appropriate proportion is such proportion as may be just having regard to the number and nature of the shares sold and the rights attaching thereto, as compared with the number and nature of all the issued shares in the company and the rights or different rights attaching thereto.

(8) Any tax chargeable on the seller by virtue of the foregoing provisions of this section and not paid by him shall be recoverable from the company, and where the seller is an individual the amount which (by virtue of subsection (1)) is deemed to be income of his shall be deemed for the purposes of this subsection to be the highest part of his income.

(9) Where, in consequence of a sale of shares, any amount would have, under subsection (1), been deemed to be income of the seller but for the circumstance that the condition specified in subsection (2)

(c) was not satisfied, and on the sixth anniversary of the sale any interest in a building such as is mentioned in subsection (2) (b) is still held by the company, then, income of the like amount shall be deemed to have been received by the company on the said anniversary and shall be chargeable under Case IV of Schedule D accordingly.

(10) If after the sale of the shares any receipts accrue to the company from the disposal, in the course of a trade of dealing in or developing land, of an interest in a building, being an interest which the company had at the time of the sale of the shares and with respect to which the profit which would have arisen on the disposal thereof was taken into account in arriving at the amount of income chargeable to tax by reference to the sale under the foregoing provisions of this section, the receipts shall be disregarded for income tax purposes if and to the extent that it is just so to do having regard to any tax charged under the said provisions.

(11) Where a building has been or has begun to be constructed by a company on land in which a company connected with that company has an interest and after the construction has been begun and not later than six years after its completion a person acquires control of the first company, then, as respects sales to that person of shares in the company having the interest in the land (whether effected before or after that person acquires control of the first company), the foregoing subsections shall apply as they apply to such a company as is therein mentioned but with the substitution for references to an interest in the building of references to an interest in the land.

(12) For the purposes of the foregoing subsections an uncompleted building shall be taken to include so much of any materials belonging to the company as are required for erecting the building, and a building (whether complete or not) shall be taken to include its site.

(13) For the purposes of this section—

(a) “share” shall be construed in relation to a company not limited by shares (whether or not it has a share capital) as including references to the interests of the member in the company as such whatever the form of that interest,

(b) the sale of rights attached to or forming part of a share shall be treated as a sale of a share, as if the rights included in the sale and those not included had been separate shares, and

(c) there shall be disregarded any building provided for use, and brought into use, for the purposes of a bona fide trade carried on by the company, other than a trade of—

(i) dealing in or developing land, or

(ii) the provision of services for occupiers of land an interest in which is held by the company.

(14) Where by virtue of this section the consideration for a sale of shares is deemed to be income of the seller and any securities of the company other than shares in the company are included in the sale at a price in excess of the company's liability on the securities, the excess shall be treated for the purposes of this section as part of the consideration for the sale of the shares.

Application of section 20 to sales of shares in holding companies.

21. —(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, where—

(a) a company (hereafter in this section referred to as the first company) is such that section 20 would apply if shares in the company were sold to a person who has, or in consequence of the sale would have, control of the company;

(b) shares in that company belong (either directly or through a nominee) to another company (hereafter in this section referred to as the second company);

(c) shares in the second company are at any time (hereafter in this section referred to as the relevant time) sold to a person who has, or in consequence of the sale will have, control of the first company; and

(d) all the issued shares in the second company at the relevant time are of the same nature and carry the same rights,

the appropriate number of shares in the first company shall be treated for the purposes of section 20 as having been sold at the relevant time to the person mentioned in paragraph (c) by the seller of the shares mentioned in that paragraph for a consideration equal to the amount specified in subsection (3).

(2) For the purposes of the foregoing subsection, the appropriate number of shares in the first company is the number arrived at by multiplying the total number of shares in the first company which at the relevant time belonged (as aforesaid) to the second company by the fraction of which the numerator is the number of shares in the second company sold as mentioned in paragraph (c) of that subsection and the denominator is the total number of the issued shares in the second company at the relevant time.

(3) The amount referred to in subsection (1) is the amount of the consideration for the sale mentioned in subsection (1) (c)—

(a) reduced by the amount arrived at by multiplying by the fraction specified in the foregoing subsection any excess of the value specified in the following subsection over the aggregate liabilities of the second company at the relevant time, or

(b) increased by the amount arrived at by multiplying by the said fraction any excess of the said aggregate liabilities over the said value.

(4) The value referred to in the foregoing subsection is the market value at the relevant time of all the assets of the second company other than the shares in the first company belonging (as aforesaid) to it at that time.

(5) Where, in the circumstances described in paragraphs (a) to (c) of subsection (1), all the issued shares in the second company at the relevant time are not of the same nature or do not carry the same rights, the foregoing provisions of this section shall have effect as if subsection (1) (d) were omitted and for the fraction specified in subsection (2) there were substituted such fraction as may be just having regard to the number and nature of the shares in the second company which were sold as mentioned in subsection (1) (c) and the rights attaching thereto, as compared with the number and nature of all the issued shares in the second company at the relevant time and the rights or different rights attaching thereto, any reference to the first-mentioned fraction being construed accordingly.

(6) Where, in the circumstances described in paragraphs (a) to (c) of subsection (1)—

(a) the second company is itself such a company as is mentioned in the said paragraph (a), and

(b) the person to whom the shares in the second company are sold has, or in consequence of the sale will have, control of the second company,

the provisions of section 20, and the foregoing provisions of this section, shall all apply.

(7) Where, instead of shares in the second company being sold as mentioned in subsection (1) (c), the sale is of shares in a company (hereafter in this subsection referred to as the last company) which, through a series of companies, has an indirect interest in the shares of the first company, the foregoing provisions of this section shall apply with such modifications as may be necessary in relation to each company (being either the first company, the last company, or one of the series of companies) of which the person to whom the shares in the last company are sold either has control at the time of the sale or will have control in consequence of it.

Provisions supplementary to sections 20 and 21.

22. —(1) Where sales of associated parcels of shares in a company, being sales to the same person, take place at different times, and in consequence of any of the sales other than the first that person obtains control of the company, then, for the purposes of either of the two foregoing sections any sales earlier than that in consequence of which he obtains control (not being sales effected before the 11th day of May, 1965) shall be treated as having all taken place at the time of that sale.

(2) For the purposes of the foregoing subsection parcels of shares shall be treated as associated if (either directly or through a nominee) they belong respectively to the same person or two or more persons with one of whom the other or each of the others is connected; and for the purposes of this subsection shares shall be treated as belonging to a person—

(a) if they belong to a company under his control, or

(b) if they are held by trustees in consequence of a settlement (as defined in section 16 (3)) in relation to which he is the settlor (as so defined).

(3) Where a person acquires control of a company at any time—

(a) any sale of shares in the company, whether to that person or to a person from whom he acquires the shares directly or indirectly, which took place before that time and was effected in pursuance of arrangements for transferring control of the company, or

(b) any sale of shares in the company to another person from whom the first-mentioned person acquired them, directly or indirectly, being a sale which took place after that time and was effected in pursuance of arrangements for transferring the shares to the first-mentioned person,

shall be treated for the purposes of the two foregoing sections as a sale in consequence of which the immediate purchaser will have control of the company.

(4) For the purposes of this and the two foregoing sections a sale to a company under a person's control, or to his nominee, shall be treated as a sale to him, and the creation of an interest in favour of a company under a person's control, or in favour of his nominee, shall be treated as the creation of the interest in his favour.

(5) For the purposes aforesaid two or more persons acting together to secure or exercise control of a company shall be treated in relation to that company as a single person.

(6) Where a sale of shares is effected in pursuance of a previous agreement, the time of the sale shall be taken for the purposes of the two foregoing sections and of the foregoing provisions of this section to be the time of the making of the agreement.

Postponement of payment of tax to be permitted in certain cases.

23. —(1) Where—

(a) a person (hereafter in this section referred to as the vendor) carrying on a trade of dealing in or developing land (hereafter in this section referred to as the trade) disposes, in the course of the trade, of the full interest acquired by him in any land,

(b) the person to whom the disposition is made (hereafter in this section referred to as the purchaser) is not a person connected with the vendor,

(c) the terms subject to which the disposition is made provide for the grant of a lease of the land by the purchaser to the vendor,

(d) a sum representing the value of the vendor's right to be granted a lease falls to be taken into account as a consideration for the disposal in computing the profits or gains of the trade, and

(e) within six months after the time of the disposition, a lease of the land in accordance with the said terms is granted by the purchaser to the vendor,

the following provisions of this section shall have effect in relation to tax for a year of assessment in the basis period for which the disposition is made.

(2) If, at the time when any amount of income tax charged by an assessment in respect of the profits or gains of the trade would, but for this subsection, become due and payable (otherwise than by virtue of section 418 or 419 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 ),—

(a) the vendor retains the leasehold interest acquired by him from the purchaser, and

(b) has not disposed, as regards the whole or any part of the land of an interest derived from that leasehold interest,

a part of the said amount of income tax equal to nine-tenths of so much thereof as would not have been chargeable if no sum had fallen to be taken into account as mentioned in subsection (1) (d) shall be payable in nine equal instalments at yearly intervals the first of which is payable on the 1st day of January in the year following that in which, but for this subsection, the said amount of income tax would have been payable.

(3) Where, in a case in which the postponement of payment of any amount of income tax has been authorised by subsection (2),—

(a) the vendor ceases to retain the leasehold interest acquired by him from the purchaser,

(b) the vendor disposes, as regards the whole or any part of the land, of an interest derived from the said leasehold interest,

(c) the vendor, being an individual, dies, or

(d) the vendor, being a company, commences to be wound up,

that said amount of income tax, or, as the case may be, so much of it as has not already become due and payable, shall become due and payable forthwith.

(4) In relation to any assessment to sur-tax made on the vendor, subsections (2) and (3) shall apply to so much of the tax charged thereby as would not have been chargeable if no sum had fallen to be taken into account as mentioned in subsection (1) (d) as they apply to so much of the income tax charged by an assessment in respect of the profits or gains of the trade as would not have been chargeable in that circumstance.

(5) In this section “basis period” means, in relation to any year of assessment, the period on the profits or gains of which income tax for that year is finally computed under Case I of Schedule D in respect of the trade or, where, by virtue of any provision of the Income Tax Acts, the profits or gains of any other period are taken to be the profits or gains of the said period, that other period.

Application of Part IV.

24. —(1) This Part shall have effect—

(a) for the year 1967-68 and subsequent years of assessment, in substitution for Chapter VII of Part IV of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , and

(b) for the years 1965-66 and 1966-67, in substitution for Part VII of the Finance Act, 1965 , and as if for every reference in this Part to a provision of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , there were substituted a reference to the corresponding provision of the enactments referred to in section 554 (1) of that Act as the repealed enactments:

Provided that no assessment shall be made pursuant to this Part for the year 1965-66, 1966-67 or 1967-68 which could not properly have been made if this Part had not been enacted.

(2) Any assessment which, immediately before the passing of this Act, stood made or purporting to have been made pursuant to Part VII of the Finance Act, 1965 , or Chapter VII of Part IV of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , shall be deemed to be an assessment made under this Part, but if it has become final and conclusive, the person assessed may by notice in writing delivered to the inspector within three months after such passing require that, for all the purposes of the Income Tax Acts, it shall be treated as an assessment in respect of which an appeal is pending.